Friday, June 15, 2012

When Exposures Make Life Easier

The vending machine just ate my dollar. Since I don’t have any snack to eat, I figured I’d spend lunch posting on the blog (and really, that snack wasn’t very healthy anyway).

Yesterday I spent the day working with my soon-to-be-retiring coworker. She’d just come back from a conference, via airplane. I’m always sure that any airplane trip results in illness, and for her, it’s actually true about half the time. But I was brave! I touched a bunch of her paperwork and didn’t wash. By the afternoon, I’d forgotten all about it.

Then she came over to my desk a little later and told me about how her sister, who recently had surgery and was staying at her house, has a staph infection. In this situation, I think MRSA! Death! immediately. She then proceeded to lean her elbows on my desk.

Now my instinct in that situation is to avoid touching that corner of my desk for at least the rest of the day. BUT! I looked up and saw all the paperwork that she and I had both touched already. No point in avoidance now. So I went about my day. And I wasn’t stressed at all. Exposures rock!

5 comments:

  1. That's awesome Ann. My father-in-law had MRSA in the hospital a few months ago and I am having a real hard time going in their home. I know my husband has been down there to visit and it takes everything I've got not to ask him if he washed his hands when he came home. The thing is, after awhile the anxiety does indeed go away. The fact you had no stress at all is huge - so happy for you.

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  2. Great, Ann! I love your attitude about the whole episode, too.

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  3. Actually, I think you rock!!! Really awesome. You keep inspiring me. : )

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  4. You are so brave! I would not have been able to even breathe her same air without washing my hands!

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  5. I hope to one day be able to rock ERPs like you do! You are a real inspiration!

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